My daughter is taking a nap, and my wife is out for most of the day coaching soccer. Things are peaceful now, but when my daughter wakes up, I have to do the grocery shopping for the week and start meal prepping. Not sure if you guys have dealt with a toddler in a super market, but it’s a nightmare. Then I have to figure out how I am going to get the groceries up to my 3rd floor walk up apartment while wrangling my daughter. I can’t just leave her in my apartment while I make trips because toddlers are basically constantly trying to kill themselves, and it’s my job to make sure that doesn’t happen. Then I have to start meal prepping with a toddler in my care. This is another set of challenges. I could wait until my wife gets home, but then I’m shopping late and won’t be able to cook until tomorrow. And if I have to cook all day tomorrow, then we don’t get to go on a family bike ride, and this time of year is so perfect for bike riding. I could order the groceries online, but they always fuck it up and then I end up having to go to the store anyway.
This might not be as big as some of the other problems people are having today, but man, I could really just use another set of hands to help me through today’s responsibilities.
How about getting the groceries delivered? Lots of stores have delivery service.
You can give a good tip for them running the groceries up the stairs for you. If there’s a special instruction field you can say something like:
Sorry for the stairs. I have a toddler up here I can’t leave. I’ll tip you $20 for the hassle of bringing the bags upstairs.
I’ve just stripped and primed 6 kitchen drawers. They need 2 coats of paint after that. I have to silicone around the new bath panel later on and maybe make a start at replacing the curtain rails. The old rails and baton need to come down, new wood cut, finished, routed, painted then afixed to the wall. It’ll look good when done, but I’m not looking forward to it.
Nice. I tore out my weird rotten cabinets last spring…my plan is to try my hand at building custom cabinets here. I know it will probably cost me more in time and frustration and possibly even materials and tools than ordering some, but it’s something I want to try.
I’m a software developer but a lot of the work is ambiguous and the instructions are lacking sometimes. My company puts no pressure on me and is amazing with my neuroticism and ADHD. Yet I can’t not wreck my mental state by worrying about things and thinking I’m not cut out for this. This issue is worst Mon-Tue and then gets better towards the weekend. It’s also dependent on the work load and client emails.
Also, crashed my mums car last night by not paying attention and rear ended someone. Then they tried to fight me cause I asked them to all stop screaming as nobody is hurt and it’s only material objects and I’m fully comp so they’ll be fine. Fucking cavemen. I’m not adverse to hitting someone, but it would have to be over something more serious than a minor accident.
How long are you working as a software dev? Basically a lot of new devs want to “save the world” by closing tickets and using that as a metric if they’re doing well or not. The reality is that a software dev’s job is just about as much writing, as dealing with clients, going to meetings, etc. People might value you for things that you don’t think have value. For the cut out for this part - you most likely are. Imposter syndrome is normal, I had it too, even 6 years into my career. Been the “goto guy” for the team, multiple times a teamlead at 3 different companies / teams. Never had a problem I couldn’t google away. Yet in the back of my mind, there was always a “maybe you’ll encounter one on the next ticket? And they’ll fire you for it” etc. I managed to silence that shit and bury it deep behind all of my achievements.
For the second part - some people are just idiots, some are governed by emotion, etc. Also, saying “it’s not so bad” is a shit way to deescalate the situation ^^
Only 18 months.
So my company is less ticket based and more here’s a spec for the whole application go ahead and build it kind of thing. My boss is amazing but he keeps a lot in his head and when I ask for help he doesn’t explain it in way that makes me understand or feel more confident. These issues do pass and they’re never as bad as I make them seem in my head at the time. Then we get emails from clients which we just action as and when. You’re right about it not just being about coding, as a lot of time is in client meetings, email writing and stuff like that.
I don’t know if glad is the right word for you having imposter syndrome, but I’m kinda relieved so many people say they experienced it too.
Yeah I’m an enigma as I’m incredibly socially adept at times, but then others I’m a fucking idiot. Especially, if I think people are overreacting as I’ll then try all the wrong things to get them to calm down. It was just strange that they were screaming and talking to me like shit and the second I’m like fuck this mate they wanna get physical, I’m not adverse to physical altercations but not over something so trivial (in my mind). Perhaps I should watch the way I say things.
Well, there you go - the issue is with the company and the irreplacable boss. He is the weakest link obviously. Imagine he gets into a car crash, gets hit by a bus. Suddenly all his knowledge is gone, either for a while when recovering, or forever. Knowledge transfer is incredibly important. Things like tickets, scrum, kanban etc are used because they work for every type of person - they serve to transfer knowledge, the hierarchy in a team protects the programmers from shit they shouldn’t be dealing with (that’s the project manager’s role, to be a shield for the team, to curate the the messages comming from “higher up” and the ones sent out by the team). The most important thing to know is that “do the needful” is about as shitty of an ask someone can pose to a programmer. People doing that don’t know what they want, and instead rely on what they don’t want - once you actually implement something that remotely fits what they needed. As for clients not reading specs - it might be time for someone to have “the talk” with them (obviously not you). One thing you need to know is that shitty clients can be fired too, once the development starts breaking down, the communication is arse etc.
For the people on the road - they probably took it as you trying to bail on them. But yeah, impulsivity when things are getting heated is never good, it’s better to stay silent for a few seconds and then say something, rather than immediately say something that can be taken very badly.
Someone to talk to about the Adastra visual novel because I can’t get it out of my head and it’s making me depressed wanting to be in that world instead of the real one so, so fucking much.
I don’t know anything about it. Can you tell me about what you would want to do there and why?
It’s more about being with the people of the story than anything else, really. It’s a romance story. But also very Game of Thrones-ish, while having a sci-fi kick.
Can you cultivate the traits you like from the people in the story?
Good morning ELIZA, it has to be very hard empathizing and communicating with everyone if all they don’t keep the conversation going.
Sorry
In all seriousness though, I’d like to hear as well.
I think I’m missing a puzzle piece on that one 🫠.
I guess I was more wondering what you like about the characters, and what makes you want to be around them. Can you learn things from them and apply them to your life? If you do, then you will be around them when you’re around yourself!
ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program developed from 1964 to 1967 at MIT by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to explore communication between humans and machines, ELIZA simulated conversation by using a pattern matching and substitution methodology that gave users an illusion of understanding on the part of the program, but had no representation that could be considered really understanding what was being said by either party.
ELIZA - Wikipedia (modified)
Oh…
I answered you from my inbox rather than the thread, so I didn’t notice you weren’t the same person I was responding to. I figured Eliza was a character in their novel 🤦.
I guess now I wish I didn’t sound like a chat bot.
Not today, but recently at work, I, a DevOps engineer specializing in Linux and other Unix/Unix-like systems, was given the task of doing some admin and maintenance work on a few Windows servers…
I FUCKING HATE WINDOWS
THIS OS MAKES NO SENSE AND ADMINISTERING IT IS A NIGHTMARE
FUCK MICROSOFT!
I used to work in IT.
Having to make promises about things with so many uncertain variables was really bad for my mental health.
Don’t forget about ChatGPT, which is pretty good about giving (mostly accurate) answers to tech questions.
I got rear ended and I think I may have a concussion.
My finances are so tight right now. I’m at an ER right now, because everyone I know says to get any symptoms documented ASAP.
Rear ended at a stop light two nights ago (Thursday). Tried to work last night (Uber driver), but whereas I usually do 4-5 hours before a break no problem, I could only go about 1 hour before being too exhausted and feeling my attention slip.
I really, really need to make money this weekend. I hope there’s some kind of lost wages support I can get, because I’m afraid if I drive (a) I could be unsafe and/or (b) I could prevent my brain from recovering by not resting enough.
I don’t have any buffer to cover me for now, even if I’m awarded some kind of lost wages judgment later. I’m worried, overwhelmed. Don’t know what to do.
On top of this, my nephew who’s in a rough spot in life just showed up in town unannounced. He didn’t ask, but I offered to let him stay with me. He’s homeless. He says his plan was to just stay on the street or at a shelter.
He’s a good kid, but he’s a total spaz. He found some gig work today, but he botched getting up on time and I woke myself up early to drive him to this job.
I really, really need my sleep. When I wake up there’s like a 30 second window for me to go back to sleep. But I rolled out of bed and drove him to the job site. Because he didn’t plan well enough for getting there.
I grilled him the whole way on how he can avoid making that mistake in the future. His answers were vague at first. He literally just said “discipline” when I asked how he can avoid this in the future. I was like “no, I’m asking what specific steps you can take to avoid this”.
He’s got a seizure disorder. He’s in and out of mental hospitals. He’s been on the street in Oregon. Got OR gov’t to provide him a train ticket to Denver.
I feel for him, but I really really need solitude and rest if I’m gonna recover from a concussion.
Fuck.
He’s got really bad adhd. I keep finding food he took out of fridge then just forgot.
I’m in my 40s, he’s in his 20s. This is my first apartment ever. I’m struggling to survive. Living week to week doing uber with a rented car. But the shelters are full as far as I’ve heard. Meaning he’d be on the literal street.
I’m praying. My own father is helping me out.
The fucking timing on this is crazy. Was heading to the train station to meet him, stopped at a red light, when the other car just ran into mine. Like, just sitting there then bam, my world is changed.
Nephew is weirdly childlike. He’s turning 30 this year, but he talks like a teenager. Thinks like one. I find myself naturally fathering him, like “Did you remember your coat?”. Shit like that.
When I lived on the street it made me grow up. I don’t understand how it hasn’t made him grow up. Or if I’m mistaking mental illness for childishness (as others have done with me).
I’m sitting in an ER waiting room right now. Staff giving me dirty looks like I’m a drug seeker. Don’t know what the fuck I’m gonna do.
My own father, in his late 70s, is offering to lend me a little money to get through this. I’ve got shame issues around accepting that. Trying not to let the shame control me.
I might just tell the nephew that he’s got to go out for the next four or five days. Figure out other housing or sleep on the street. I simply cannot rest my mind unless I’m alone. It took me until my fucking 40s to secure an apartment that was mine, where I could be alone. Then when I really need the solitude, in order to let my neurons relax and recover from the fogginess of this concussion, is literally the same day (out of the approx 15,000 days of my life) that my nephew drops out of the ether needing help.
I don’t even know what kind of help I need. I guess I need clarity and courage. Clarity to know exactly what I need to do, and the courage to do it.
I think the right move is:
- Accept the loan from Dad
- Kick Nephew to the curb (at least for a week while I recover)
But I feel no certainty about that. It feels wrong. My mind and my heart are out of alignment.
Your dad loves you and wants you to do well… Honor that by letting him help you out.
Regarding your nephew, it sounds highly likely that your house is not his final stop in life. If you don’t have the capacity to take him in there’s no sense in letting his one homelessness become two homelessnesses. You can support him in other ways, maybe as a role model and a mentor, but if he needs a parent you might not be it. Parents grow into that role alongside their infants.
Do you have any interest in doing something other than Uber, or doing Uber just on the side?
I’m done with my job.
I hate the company because I’m ethically opposed to the business model, I want to actually help people instead of building more efficient ways to steal money from small businesses and the families of dead clients. On-top of that our latest manager is the next in a line of increasingly intense micromanagers who keeps looking at our engagement scores and is basically making our jobs harder and more annoying in response, he can’t work out why it’s getting worse…
I want a new job, anything that lets me actually help people. Hard to do when you don’t have any official qualifications, a disability and are neurodivergent so interviews are a nightmare.
I went from ethically questionable, highly-paid work to ethically-clean, medium-paid work and it’s one of the best moves I’ve ever made.
I was a software developer, am now an uber driver.
Being able to deliver on 95+% of my promises feels amazing. Back when I was in IT, I kept maybe 20% of my promises.
I’m saying this in order to say: mental health will improve with an improvement in the meaning and ethical cleanliness of your work. Being out of integrity with your conscience will make the neurodivergence and everything else worse (I have that too, and speak from experience).
My depression is basically gone. My social skills are better. I’m industrious in a way I never was before. I no longer have insomnia. I no longer have ulcer-like symptoms. My neurodivergence is more graceful and positive.
This is all to say that, as you change paths, the mental resources available to you will increase. It may not look like you have the supplies needed for the journey, but trust me when I say there’s resources and upgrades along the path.
Give yourself the effort required to get off that shitty path! You’re worth it!
Psoriatic arthritis flared up in my entire body that has made it impossible to sleep or even really exist for the last week and a half.
It would be awesome to just not hurt for a few hours.
I know nothing about psoriatic arthritis but I do know a little about joint inflammation. I read about how an imbalance of omega fatty acids can cause inflammation and after taking a fish oil pill most of the pain went away in my knees. Would that be something you could try?
Diet changes are one of the major things I’ve been working on that has made the last little bit rough. I’ve been cooking a lot more, primarily oily fishes which I love, but I did cut out the trash sugars and caffeine that I use as a crutch.
Almost daily mackerel and salmon has been awesome though. Saba shioyaki is probably my favorite comfort food and I never realized how easy it was to make. I’ll have to give the actual fish oil pills a try though, thanks!
Kicking my ex out. I’m terrible at any kind of confrontation and at this point I do have the option of calling the police to assist. I just know that I am a doormat and am afraid I will cave if he gives me a sob story. He’s had over two years to get his shit together and leave but it’s come to forcefully removing him. I could use someone besides the police with a firm voice to convince him to get up and moving.
You can’t help anyone else if you can’t take care of yourself first. That’s a really hard position to be in, but you have to do it for your benefit and eventually for his too.
In fact, if I found out my lady wanted me out but didn’t flip the switch, I would be pretty upset about the time we lost living in that state. That time could have been spent rediscovering myself or finding my next partner. What a missed opportunity!
I first informed him I wanted him to move over 2 years ago, but he never left. Hopefully this will finally be resolved in the next week. I’m at the end of my rope, barely surviving in my own home. I hide in my bedroom, while he roams the house making a mess…I want him to be happy and healthy but that won’t happen while he’s in my house. We’re both miserable.
First I want to apologize somehow I didn’t register “ex”, and parts of my comment therefore made no sense.
Do you feel physically unsafe to confront him? If not, I think you’re within your right to flat out say “you don’t live here anymore and you need to pack now and then leave”.
He’s your ex. Nobody owes (or is owed) any interpersonal relationship from anyone else, nor any favors or support.
You already know all this though.
If you do feel threatened by him, I am always skeptical about involving police, but you have the best angle for that judgement call, maybe you should get on it. I hope there’s space for you to give him a chance not to need that though. Involving the police only due to being timid I think would be an irresponsible play.
Do you have a trusting relationship with any mutual friends that can help you mediate and navigate this?
No matter what you do, it’s going to have to happen, I don’t see any sense in waiting. You need to be able to take care of yourself and move your life forward. There are only so many years you’re alive… Don’t give him another 2.
Thank you! I did have a friend with me at the time of confrontation which helped me immensely. It did require the police as it turns out there was a warrant for an unrelated matter for him although he wasn’t arrested at the time. I think by having the police come he finally realized I wasn’t backing down and he’s run out of time. He’s now moving his most important things out and working on finding another place. He has until the sheriff’s department, which handles civil cases like this in my state, comes and officially removes him. I haven’t told him but I think I will make arrangements with him after that happens for him to get the rest of his stuff at a later date.
I feel like I have more energy now than I’ve had for the last year, I actually want to do something with my time at home other than sleep.
I’m glad to hear you’re turning that page, and I hope he chooses to as well. Congrats, and eventually congrats to him.
I’m replacing my master brake cylinder and booster in my truck. It’ll be the first time working on a car I actually own. Never done this in a GMC but i was told by a friend its easy(probably not). Was gonna have a shop do it but they are gonna charge me as much as I pay in rent.
Did you do it?
Not yet. I got the parts and I need to get a line wrench. Maybe a friend to help with the brake bleeding.
I could use some help with the metric shit ton of chicken biryani I made a couple of days ago.
Damnit that’s a great problem to have! 🤤
That sounds delicious, was there a certain recipe you used?
This one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XlMguO9r-M
There’s a few ingredients missing from the recipe he puts in the comments so watch the video closely if you’re going to try it.
Also 1kg of dried rice - I measured out that amount and yes, it’s the same as he uses but it’s just way too much.
